Every Friday SEGA Europe and SEGA America host a big prize giveaway on Twitter. You can win all sorts of assorted gaming merch, games and very rare collectable things. THINGS! I know you all can't get enough of things.

So anyhoo, today a nice bit of NiGHTS Journey of Dreams merch has gone up for grabs. A signed CD music sampler from JoD. These CD's were made in a very limited quantity for SEGA Europe as a promotional item, so to own one of these SIGNED by TAKASHI IIZUKA is something you should be interested in It's been signed this year too ( so you also get the amusing knowledge that (probably AAUK) hounds the guy to specificaly sign NiGHTS merch for us XD ). Iizuka-san you can never escape the NiGHTS fans! lol

If you'd like to be in with a chance to win this, along with some other spectacular prizes like Amigo ASR concept art prints, just go to Twitter.com and follow the official @SEGA account and wait for further instructions. Remember that you have to be following them and they have to be following you in return. Direct messages only when taking part as regular replies don't count.

Back in January 2008 we had the incredibly surreal experience of not only NiGHTS 2 finally becoming a reality after 12 years but SEGA bringing it to our -house- to demonstrate it for us before release. Needless to say it sounds like the sort of caffeine driven lie any fan could spout but – no – really. SEGA came to our house.
How many gaming companies do that for their fans? It's little things like this that remind me why i still love SEGA so much, they still listen.

It was a day of cheesecake, sparkly reunited joy and adult chickenpox. But all around amazing. Back in January I'd been so hyped to finally play Journey of Dreams that i never actually got around to writing up what went on. I think i muttered something to the fans about 'give me a few weeks I've been wanting to play this game for 12 years', then toddled off for a lot longer than that to play the thing to death. We have some video of the day but rather than upload a massive 3 gig video of us sitting yelling at the TV set – I'll break it down into screencaps. For a detailed report of what Arch' from SEGA thought you can read the blogs here:http://blogs.sega.com/europe/category/nights/
(or just keep reading below since i copypasta'd them for nostalgia's sake)

1. If it looks too good to be true it usually is. Mr Dev Wii eats retail code discs for breakfast. Poor Arch had been given the wrong Wii to bring all the way to Scotland to demo NiGHTS on.
Cue our horror.

2. Any longtime hardcore NiGHTS fan will know… you remember those nightmares you'd wake up from back in 1999 or 2001 where SEGA come to visit your house with a copy of NiGHTS 2 and then it doesn't work. We got to live it. FOR REAL!

Cue the tears of a broken man.

3. Our forum moderator Jof was overcome with grief (as the photos obviously show). But something SEGA probably doesn't understand is how much patience waiting 12 years non stop for a sequel gives you. This to a NiGHTS fan was just a small technical hitch. We famously carry some kind of fandom curse so this was normal. This called for practical thinking! Problem solving! The sort of DEEP THINKING that only true NiGHTS fans could co-

Oh yeah! We had our own Wii. Duh.

SO BEHOLD!
*RAPTURE!*

NiGHTS 2 on my TV, not just some horrible delusion.

Girly screams all around.

And what is the first thing you WANT to know, VITAL to gameplay enjoyment for the next 12 years?CAN WILL BE THROWN OFF THE EDGE OF DREAMGATE?
Unfortunately no, but we'll forgive them…. somehow.

Ok forgiven. NiGHTS isn't all flowers and rainbows. This pleases us greatly.
As does verbal smackdown… and the fact they left THAT line in. You know the one

NiGHTS can HEAL THE SICK with his tight spandexy powers, see how much life is brought back to this poorly man plagued by the deadly adult chicken pox. He can walk again! Especially now that he owns more NiGHTS merchandise than SEGA itself. SEGA gives DiGi +9999999 revive.

All is good in the world. Game enjoyment was had, bags were screamed over, copious copies of JoD were handed out and laughter ensued. Today was a great day.
But it wasn't over yet! It's a mandatory requirement that any SEGA representative stepping into our household MUST answer to the fans and be thoroughly interrogated via our Dreamcast show. Which went swimmingly well. You can download show06 here:

Afterwards we set him free but SEGA now knows the NiGHTS fanbase is SERIOUS BUSiNESS. After the mind control wore off AAUK returned to England and wrote up the following SEGA journals:

ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH:
Pt 1 – Up, Up and Away

What do ArchangelUK, £900 bottles of cognac and the Paralympics team of Gibraltar have in common? As it happens we were all at Gatwick airport last Thursday, though whilst the cognac was gathering dust and the Gibraltans were off to some sort of training camp I myself as the Online Community Team’s resident representative for all things Nightopian was off to Edinburgh to the very heart of the NiGHTS fan base.

The reason for this was very simple – it was a lot cheaper to send me to them then get them down to us.

So, armed with a bag full of NiGHTS merchandise a suitcase containing a Wii (and looking at the weather a sense of foreboding) I marched off to do battle with the airport check-in system… at 3:45am.

Let me tell you strange things happen at 3:45am, for a start paying £20 for the slim chance of winning a Ferrari they’ve somehow got into the departures lounge sounds like “a good idea” – you imagine yourself with “Magical Sound Shower” blaring from the speakers as you zip along the straights of Malibu. Feeling rather worried by this and keeping the £20 firmly in my pocket I instead headed straight for the arcade and blasted off a quick few laps on OutRun2.

Speaking of arcades is it me or is the entirety of the Arcade system now solely resting on machines produced by SEGA and Namco? I swear there are more SEGA machines around than any other publisher – and the rest seem to be Time Crisis.

The plane boarded on time and we were soon in the air, the pilot finishing his welcome by inviting us to “enjoy all the marvellous facilities we have on this aircraft… Not.” So as we sailed into the sky with the strains of Dreams Dreams 2008 in my ears I was really looking forward to the trip, I was even looking forward to the surprisingly tasty looking in-flight breakfast which was served pretty much immediately.

Yup, everything was going smoothly… and then I made the mistake of opening my tub of orange juice.

Like some sort of cosmic switch the plane all of a sudden lurched sideways as we hit a terrible bout of turbulence which did its best to cover me in the orange liquid. I clamped my palm over the top of my cup in desperation to try and prevent further spillage but still I fear looked rather like the recipient of shrapnel wounds from a Tango grenade when all was said and done.

We landed on time (and for a while on one wheel) at Edinburgh airport which seemed surprisingly small and as I set foot for the first time on Scottish soil I was pleased to see that absolutely no stereotypes about Scotland were to be seen. Yup it was windy, rainy, cold, bagpipe music was playing as I entered the arrivals area and the first man I saw was in a kilt trying to sell me shortbread. Absolutely no stereotypes at all.

After a brief scare when I almost left my case at the airport I exited to find freezing sheet rain and dragging my belongings onto the shuttle bus rode off to my hotel room and my first meeting with TRiPPY and DiGi…

Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 4:24:11PM Jan 23, 2008

ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH: Pt 2 – Play The Game

For those who used to get Sonic the Comic back in the day you may well recall that there was an artist who kept getting her work featured – Lynne Triplett. It might surprise you to know that Lynne and TRiPPY are one and the same, and with bright red hair you’re not likely to miss her. As one half of the “First Couple of Nightopia” (TM AAUK, 2007) and with partner in crime DiGi Valentine (himself resplendent with a signature tuft of bright green hair) aiding and abetting, she has lead the NiGHTS fan base for more years than it’s polite to say.

Having got the word that the guys had arrived I zipped down to the lobby to find them there along with NiGHTS forum mod Jof and TRiPPY’s brother Derek. So you have ArchangelUK, TRiPPY, DiGi, Jof and Derek – it seems someone was letting us down on the wacky names front.

Later it was revealed he was a DeZ. Oh well.

We went to catch a bus back to the Triplett household and talked Journey of Dreams, Reala, original NiGHTS, SST, SEGA, Sonic Wrecks and many other things. I was pleased to see DiGi who had literally dragged himself off his sick bed of the last week, having spent all that time suffering from a rather nasty case of adult chicken pox as he was devastated at the thought of missing out on my visit.

Awww.

However as he waivered somewhat standing up I did fear a stiff breeze might blow the poor guy away, so feeling a bit guilty I reached into my AAUK branded bag o’ tricks and produced, with no fanfare, a copy of Journey of Dreams which I thrust beneath his astounded eyes. DiGi held it like he might accidentally break it for a few moments before issuing an excited squeak – but in a manly way, right DiGi? TRiPPY and DiGi examined the game which they had been waiting 11 years for – and wouldn’t be out to the general UK populous until tomorrow – and began chattering earnestly, a bit more life back in DiGi which I for one was very pleased to see.

A short adventure with some excitable dogs later, one of whom called Smudge didn’t want to let me off at our stop – an agent of Wizeman perhaps – we arrived at their flat and I stepped through TRiPPY’s bedroom door into… the largest amount of purple I’d ever seen in my entire life.

The room was completely done up in NiGHTS’ colour scheme – there were statuettes and plushies, posters and artwork everywhere. In the corner stood on a mannequin TRiPPY’s NiGHTS costume which apparently takes about 6 hours to put on, I assumed DiGi was joking about that but TRiPPY’s nervous laughter suggested otherwise. I was also pleased to see a large variety of Sonic merchandise as well as pretty much every SEGA console known to man.

Here’s a photo of TRiPPY in said regalia:“Du-al-ize!”

Yes, both terrifying and alluring at the same time. I think…

Everywhere I looked, everywhere, was just a mass of NiGHTS… I didn’t even know there was half as much NiGHTS paraphernalia in existence as I saw in there.

Anyway to business! I began setting up the Wii I’d dragged with me from SOE HQ all the way to the south of England and then all the way up to Edinburgh. Oh dear. The green frontage of that Wii was not a good sign…

I popped the game in and my fears were realised, I’d been given a Dev Wii and it wouldn’t play the retail code – NOOOOOOOOO! Luckily TRiPPY had a Wii, but it did mean that they would not be able to see any of the more advanced levels and see the unlocked items to begin with. So after I got the Tutorial out of the way for them I let them loose on Journey of Dreams, while I muttered some rather choice language as I packed the console back up again.

Soon the room went very quiet as people concentrated, trying to get the highest number of links possible and while the boss levels proved deceptively tricky at first – Jof being our savior and getting us past them – there was nothing but grins around the room. Even from Derek and he’s not a NiGHTS fan at all!

Time was marching on but I’d been very open in my desire to be used as much as possible by the guys, so it was time to start thinking about the dreaded Dream Cast podcast.

Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 5:08:54PM Jan 25, 2008

ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH: Pt 3 – Of Merchandise and Cheesecake

With sinister clowns, magicians and giant fish vanquished it was time to try out the multiplayer. TRiPPY was keen to take people on and as the former World Record holder for defeating Wizeman had every right to be confident. Unfortunately Jof beat her, then DiGi beat her, then her brother beat her… then I beat her.

Whoops.

However she’s been practicing like crazy and no doubt will be up for a challenge should you ask her at any time.

After that we recorded the podcast where I answered a load of questions from NiGHTS fans to the best of my ability. Having already helped provide them with various answers with the interview with Iizuka-san, fan base questions instead were in the “who the heck are you” and “why are you here” bracket as opposed to the “what are the fundamental changes in control methodology” bracket. Though when you bare in mind my answer to “What is your role at SEGA?” was “ham and cheese” you can guess how things went.

The podcast is up on NiGHTSIntoDreams.Com now if you’re interested (parental advisory – explicit DiGi in places).

Speaking of cheese, TRiPPY had a hankering for some cheesecake but first I had a little matter of giving out some rather splendid gifts courtesy of SEGA. From my magic bag I pulled seemingly endless goodies including Sonic t-shirts, NiGHTS posters, a Sonic 06 mug, glow in the dark NiGHTS stickers, soundtrack samplers, the Japanese NiGHTS pre-order toy, Ghost Squad, Golden Compass, Sonic Rush Adventure and Sonic Rivals 2.

Poor DiGi was half-buried under a mountain of merchandise by the time I finished, unable to move.

That would have been all, but for the bag within the bag. Ah yes, in a major merchandising coup I pulled out a Japanese NiGHTS bag, the same bag that had been given out in ridiculously limited quantities at the Tokyo Game Show.

The reaction was PRICELESS, a sort of strangulated yell followed by diving and grasping and clutching with great excitement and lots of thank yous.

I dunno about you guys, but rather think they liked it…

It was at this point that TRiPPY REALLY needed some cheesecake, so as we were now all rather on the hungry side ourselves it seemed only right that we go out for some food. Catching a bus which took a small eternity to arrive but thankfully had no excitable pets on board we made our way back to Edinburgh city centre. All of this of course was great for me because it allowed me to return to my hotel room and dump the accurs’d Wii back there with a shake of my fist skywards… or at least southwards.

So where to? Well, a restaurant presumably so having tidied myself up a bit I raced back downstairs to rescue Team NiGHTS – or more specifically the reception staff from this odd collection of youths sitting in the lobby of their swanky hotel.

Having found a bar called the Filling Station, which was filled with various examples of motoring Americana, we sat down and ordered drinks. Not really being in the mood for anything too strong I ordered an Appletizer which was roughly about the same time I found out about the Heathrow crash.

Yes, trust me guys there’s nothing that makes your day than to find out there’s been a mysterious airplane crash on the airline your flying back on the very next day. So while I was sipping my drink thinking as soon as I left tomorrow the wings would fall off or I’d find out that the pilot had mysteriously been replaced by a hippo, the guys placed their orders and talked about the game some more.

Oddly enough the topic at hand was Owl and what a great character he was. This was odd as I was sure Owl would annoy the hell out of everyone (Visitor. Visitor. Hoot. Visitor. Yes. Ho ho. Visitor.) Including myself but that was until people saw NiGHTS’ reactions to Owl.

You see if you are a Visitor who gets a little tired of Owl keep an eye on NiGHTS in the cut scenes. Ignoring the one prior to the water ball level in which Owl nearly drowns… to howls of laughter from Helen and NiGHTS. NiGHTS is often rolling his eyes and looking incredibly bored at the old bird’s hooting and generally not giving a, well, hoot.

TRiPPY made a very good point too about NiGHTS being somewhat snappy in places, i.e. “Dual-ize” in that NiGHTS is as you may recall still a Nightmaren despite also being a “carefree rascal”.

The food arrived shortly afterwards, I forget what mine was called but it was essentially an inverse pizza apparently full of ALL THE CHEESE IN THE WORLD. As such I completed about half of it, which I suppose gives me a D rank.

Other topics flowed through the meal including NiGHTS’ voice artist (and the voices in general), speaking with Iizuka-san, creating NiGHTS artwork, how DiGi was NOT going to use the stickers I’d given him for an urban advertising campaign as I didn’t want to end up with some street fine thank you very much and how amazing, apparently, NiGHTS’ ass had been rendered on the signature artwork.

Yesssss……

TRiPPY demolished her slice of cheesecake in near record time all the while making lots of ‘mmmm’ noises which considering the rest of us had no desert didn’t go down too well. The meal was paid for and we left, but where to now?

We decided to march up to Edinburgh Castle – as you do – and risk the wrath of the ghosts and ghouls…

Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 12:45:34PM Jan 31, 2008

ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH: Pt 4 – Journey’s End

You’d thought I’d forgotten about this hadn’t you? Well we’d left my story, which was a while ago now, as we had just finished the podcast and a slice of cheesecake had been sacrificed to the great TRiPPY beast.

Now apparently, as it was really cold and damp it was a very good idea to go up to Edinburgh Castle – this was especially neccessary so we could yell “Yay castle!” at the ancient edifice. You may have guessed I was beginning to wonder what was in the cheesecake following this statement – but I wanted to go and see it regardless so up we went.

The castle was of course closed and the Queen wasn’t in – which was very rude of her, I’m from frickin’ SEGA! But the views from atop the very, very steep hill across Edinburgh were truly fantastic. A twinkling cacophany of white and yellow lights and the sound of the wind… and somebody taking out their frustrations on a pay-and-display machine.

Having discovered it was even colder where we were, we turned tail and walked back chatting about this and that. I was told of how the current streets of Edinburgh are built over the streets of old which was done so to trap the plague victims and wipe the slate clean – judging by the large steps on either side of the road this had been happening a lot. Edinburgh also has so I’m told one of the most haunted graveyards in the country, the ghosts and ghouls within being none too pleasant. Tourists coming out with mysterious injuries inflicted up them, cuts and bruises – TRiPPY recalled she came out of one of the trips with a massive bruise on her thigh. That the ghosts were angry and vengeful.

“I’m not surprised if you lot keep paving over people.” Was my reply.

Seeing Jof off at the train station we went back to the hotel where I wished everyone goodnight where I went off to a very comfy bed and a slice of banoffi pie and a coke from room service (I paid before you lot say anything). The next day myself, DiGi and TRiPPY met up to kill time before I had to go off to the airport again.

I was rather desolate to find that Gamestation had recieved a delivery of Wiis in that very morning – if only I didn’t have the accurs’d Dev Wii I could have bought one and taken it home with me! NOOOOOOO!!! We moped around and had breakfast before I had to get my bus to the airport, the highlight being a tramp outside the job centre who started yelling at me that I was a bum for no reason whatsoever.

The time came for goodbyes and I departed for pastures more Southern, but even then there was a twist in the tail. Only a few days later (as some of you know) TRiPPY and DiGi through a series of unfortunate events were forced out on the streets and ended up having to rough it. Several of you have asked me how they are and the good news is that they are indeed safe and well in a new abode.

In fact Miss T and Mr D were helping me with something else a bit closer to home yesterday – keep an eye out for details on that!

It's not very often you get contacted by SEGA out of the blue, nor is it very often you're given the chance to have some questions answered by one of the original creators of NiGHTS into Dreams -represented- by SEGA. Ohohoh.

Takashi Iizuka, producer, director, and lead designer of Journey of Dreams was in London's SEGA headquarters to promote his new game. Community manager Kevin Eva (Also admin of Sonic Wrecks ) attended to represent the .Com, as DiGi and I couldn't attend due to busting our bank flying out to Amsterdam SEGA Benelux a few weeks prior on short notice to play the JoD Beta D:
Mr AAUK went armed with a selection of obscure questions I'd written up regarding both the original and the new game.

Thanks to Mike Taylor from NintendoLife we have audio/video and a transcript of the interview. Mike was also there asking questions along with G from SEGANerds. Consider the following to be the 'epic combi meal' of our Websites' joint efforts.

Nintendo Life: When did development for Journey of Dreams start?Takashi Iizuka: The idea came about 2 Years ago. Development began 1 and a half years ago

Nintendo Life: Years ago rumors came about, for a game called Air NiGHTS, a proposed sequel for the original game. Motion control was rumored to be the main idea for the game back then. Was Air NiGHTS a real game, and did it have any bearing on Journey of Dreams?Takashi Iizuka: At the time SEGA had been playing with the idea of motion control on their consoles. Air Nights was a prototype game testing out the technology. Nothing came of it, and development stopped.

SEGANerds: Where did you come up with the idea for the My Dream segment of the game?Takashi Iizuka: It was developed from the A-Life system in the original NiGHTS. While the original only allowed you to interact with A-Life in the missions. You now have a separate, small world, the beauty of A-Life, is it creates a place where the developers will not be able to predict what will happen.

SEGANerds: Why did you decide to give NiGHTS a voice? And why did you choose a female voice?Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS] Well the original game had voice clips for NiGHTS, but in Journey of Dreams I wanted to use more voice acting. The voice helps to add depth to the game play, and tell the story in the cut scenes.
NiGHTS is neutral, and therefore has no gender. The impressions of the character with regards to gender are totally up to the player.

SEGANerds: Will there be any unlockable content in Journey of Dreams? Like with Christmas NiGHTS – you could unlock Sonic.Takashi Iizuka: There will be some unlockable features, but I cannot say what they are. They are meant to be a surprise. But if players get high rankings, they will unlock features.

SEGANerds: Is there anything you would have liked to have changed or added to the final release of Journey of Dreams?Takashi Iizuka: No, nothing more. I feel that we have implemented everything we wanted to. I think we did everything we could do with the Wii’s features.Nintendo Life: [JOKES] Nothing more you could so. Perfect!Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS]

SEGANerds: Which control method do you prefer?Takashi Iizuka: I personally prefer the Wiimote controls, as you get the feeling of free flying with these controls.
But I suggest that fans of the original may wish to use the GameCube controller, as it is more like the Saturn controller, and is what players will be used to, at least at first.

NiGHTSintoDreams.com: Some people say that BellBridge (the game’s fictional setting), resembles parts of London. Is there any truth to this? And if so, why did you choose this setting?Takashi Iizuka: Well like the character of Sonic is designed to be more like American style, NiGHTS has been designed to be more like that of European. So that is why the stages have the look of a more European setting.
It is also why the characters in NiGHTS have English accents.

NiGHTSintoDreams.com: How many people worked on NiGHTS Journey of Dreams?Takashi Iizuka: There were 26 developers from Sonic Team USA working on the game. With the sound and CG developed in Japan.

NiGHTSintoDreams.com: Why was Jackle not included in Journey of Dreams? Is the Chameleon boss meant to be a replacement? In addition, will we see Jackle again?Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS] Well really I like the character, but if we created all the characters again we would be looking at the same game. We only wanted to keep Wizeman and Reala. [LAUGHS] It is a new game.

(*)NiGHTSintoDreams.com: The second biggest mystery of NiGHTS! What did the deleted boss Selph look like? Apparently there was a deleted boss from the original game called Selph.Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS] How do you know about Selph?NiGHTSintoDreams.com: ‘They’ know.Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS] They, who is they?NiGHTSintoDreams.com: Fans.Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS] Ah, ok.
Well the idea for the character existed, but he was never actually created.(*)

Nintendo Life: In Journey of Dreams, NiGHTS has different masks, which he can use. What is your favourite mask?Takashi Iizuka: It depends on the situation; I like the Rocket mask because you can use it to create your own strategy.
But my favourite will have to be the Dragon mask.

Nintendo Life: While we were having a play of your game a little while ago, we noticed that there is a counter in the game. The counter seems to change with each night you play. Does this have any effect on the game at all?Takashi Iizuka: No. It is just there as a counter, for you to know how long/many times you have been playing.

SEGANerds: NiGHTS used the Saturn’s internal clock to add new game play/secrets to the game, depending on the date. Will the same feature be used in Journey of Dreams?Takashi Iizuka: No. For the Saturn, it was a new feature and a new challenge.
With the Wii, the Forecast Channel is the new challenge. However there will be seasonal events within the game, which will appear in the My Dreams section.

Nintendo Life: It has recently been announced that NiGHTS is being remade for the PS2. Will the game be released worldwide? In addition, are there any plans for a Wii version, perhaps on the Virtual Console?Takashi Iizuka: There are currently no plans for the PS2 version to be released outside of Japan.Nintendo Life: [TUTS]Takashi Iizuka: [LAUGHS] It is being released in Japan, due to the high demand for the game. So there are no plans for a worldwide release… for now. As for Virtual Console there are no plans for a release either… for now.

NiGHTSintoDreams.com: For gamers who played NiGHTS into Dreams obsessively, you could unlock rare Nightopians called King or Superpians. Will there be any rare Nightopians in Journey of Dreams?Takashi Iizuka: In the My Dreams section of the game it is possible to mix Nightopians with the Marens (baddies) to create new creatures.
There will also be Superpians.

Nintendo Life: Thank you very much, for your time and for making a new NiGHTS game.Takashi Iizuka: Thank you.

Are we finished yet? Heck no! The following Monday morning we were sent a parcel of glee from SEGA, fiendishly gathered together during a meeting with Iizuka-san later on to discuss our lovely fanbase (THAT'S YOU GUYS). Here's some pictures of our amazing Christmas gifts!

The unreleased USA BoxArt… signed by Iizuka!

A -massive- Japanese Journey of Dreams promo poster. Signed by Takashi Iizuka for me and DiGi XD Needless to say, Ebay will never see this sucker for no sum of money. I want to get this framed… need to find a frame BIG enough…

And as a super extra Christmas gift Arch' showed Iizuka some of my most popular pieces of old artwork. Iizuka was 'very very very impressed' and apparently 'enthralled'. Paradox was his favourite one. Aha I'm a big sap and cried about it. Dude. Then… HE SIGNED MY ARTWORK O_O… I kid you not.

SEGA we still adore you T_T even after all these years, it's seriously heartwarming to see the creators connect to their fans in this way.
Thank you so much!

THE BIG SELPH MYSTERY
If you've listened to the audio for the above interview you will have heard the part at which AAUK asks Iizuka about the boss Selph. Iizuka seems somewhat shocked as to how we would know about a boss that didn't even make it into a beta. He speaks to his translator in Japanese thinking that it probably wouldn't be noted or understood. But we wouldn't be very good NiGHTS fans if we just took his translators English answer would we? ha ha

Our Japanese staff member Seiya listened to the conversation between the translator and Iizuka and told us exactly what is being said. It REALLY goes like this -

(*)—TRANSLATIONS—
*AAUK asks about Selph*Translator to Iizuka- "What is it? Such a boss was in the plan of original NiGHTS?"Takashi Iizuka to translator- "Yeah, it's true. I had thought I wanna add a boss called Selph to original NiGHTS."Translator to Iizuka- "Well, is it ok if I tell it (in English)?"Takashi Iizuka to translator- "OK. Maybe Naka had already told it before."Translator to Iizuka- "Ah, so they know… But why was it deleted?"Takashi Iizuka- "Because… The original story of NiGHTS already had been made perfectly. So I thought the boss isn't needed anymore. So I deleted Selph."-

And that's the truth behind the famous deleted boss, Selph. Iizuka himself was responsible for Selph's deletion.
This most certainly wraps up the entire myth as to what Selph originaly was, and now we know. He was indeed 100% a boss character but was removed because the story was as good as it could be….which now brings up the speculation as to what made Selph so important that he changed the flow of the story.
And uh.. sorry to the lovely Mr Yuji Naka who actually DIDN'T tell us about Selph. We kinda figured that one out ourselves

NiGHTS into Dreams intro.
The very pretty sparkly video that plays straight after the SonicTeam logo. When you were used to seeing Mega CD graphics and saw this for the first time it blew you away. The infamous bow scene! Ahhh nostalgia. Size-5.93Mb Time- 0:43 (.Avi)Download Video

Elliot Edwards the intro.
This video introduces you to the teenage WOE (omg™) of Elliots life and what his nightmare is.Size-12.4Mb Time- 1:31 (.Avi)Download Video

Claris Sinclair the intro.
Claris’ nightmare about her audition and her stage fright. We like the shadow Maren forms we do Sega, more of that plz. Size-12.1Mb Time-1:29 (.Avi)Download Video

Elliot’s Pre- Ending.
Gorgeous scenery of Spring Valley here, it would have been neat to see more of the levels in the videos.
Anyway Elliot wakes up and helps Claris out. Go man go.Size-6.40Mb Time- 0:47 (.Avi)Download Video

Claris’ Pre- Ending.
Sure they look cute and like Oompa Loompas gone wrong but i wouldn’t trust them for a second dude. Claris is about to emo and realises she is not alone. Pretty cute scene.Size-5.15Mb Time- 0:37 (.Avi)Download Video

Elliot Ending.
Elliot faces his fears in the real world and steps up when the chips are down. Elliots friends have awesome eyebrows, they need some kinda recognition award just for being there. So um yeah.Size-8.87Mb Time- 1:05 (.Avi)Download Video

Claris Ending.
September the 29th, audition day. Reaching into the pit of oblivion (otherwise known as her self belief and her adventure with NiGHTS saving the universe and the probable demise of breakfast waffles) she brings forth the wonderous LA LA LA song. You go girl.Size-12Mb Time- 1:28(.Avi)Download Video

Joint perfect A ending.
The one video everyone basicaly plays the game for. The UBERGLiTTER parade video.
Shed a tear at the niceness of it all, awe at the swirly glitter and confetti, question daylight fireworks- and then laugh at the gormless look Elliot gets when he see’s NiGHTS. It makes you wonder how bad the security was at T.Seeds tower when Elliot can go pelting down the stairs mid show.Size-14.6Mb Time- 1:48 (.Avi)Download Video

Elliot Outro.
For some odd odd reason the two raw outro videos were spliced all weird hence why you barely see them online because both the left and the right of the picture is cut off, but you can still see Elliot so i’ve included it anyway.

Claris Outro.
Again with the weird cropped picture, but i didnt want to put up TV card video because it has lousy quality.

Fans speculate a lot about the relavence of NiGHTS on the tower at the end in the waking. People have a lot of suggestions on it. As did Archie Size-1.58Mb Time-0:20 (.Avi)Download Video

Christmas NiGHTS FMV (and Japanese audio versions!):

Christmas NiGHTS Prologue (English).
Ahh Christmas NiGHTS the one game we all play religiously at least once during the holiday season. Tiz pretty, and is a jaunty little semi-sequal to the original.Size-17.9Mb Time- 2:12 (.Avi)Download Video

Christmas NiGHTS Prologue (Japanese).
*Fanfare* for the first time ever online i’m proud to offer the japanese audio version for download. I only recently got to hear this myself despite owning all the Japanese versions for years. So marvel at the lovely narative voice and argue with net geeks over which version is superior.Size-17.9Mb Time- 2:12 (.Avi)Download Video

Christmas NiGHTS Epilogue (English).
The very amusing ending FMV to the game when completed by both children.
I love how some of the townspeople look like the Maren.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE ;______;Size-15.5Mb Time- 1:54 (.Avi)Download Video

Christmas NiGHTS Epilogue (Japanese).
The happyhappyjoyjoy version of the previous video. Thankyou to Phage who made such a big effort to convert these videos for me.Size-15.5Mb Time- 1:54 (.Avi)Download Video

Journey of Dreams FMV:

Journey of Dreams Intro video.
The best thing ever. No lie. Thanks to Charlie for the JoD files Size-234Mb Time- 1:54 (.Avi)Download Video

William FMV Collection (SPOILERS).
Video collection for Will. This includes his intro and endings. I’m so glad that after 11 years we got beautiful quality FMV sequences.Size-710Mb Time- 5:47 (.Avi)Download Video

Helen FMV Collection (SPOILERS).
Video collection for Helen. This includes her intro and endings. Nobody can deny SEGA do amazing animation. I love the snow ^^Size-837Mb Time- 6:56 (.Avi)Download Video

This DVD came free with any E-rated Sega game purchased at GameStop.
It is a short documentary promo running through a brief history of NiGHTS into Dreams and then showcasing the latest game, NiGHTS Journey of Dreams. It is certainly a very interesting video with some cool shots of SonicTeam doing their concept work. Thanks to Xenon for sending this in.
Size-73Mb Time-7:16 (.mpg)

Our collection of NiGHTS related music videos. Note- we don’t accept art stolen from this site (or D.A!) and shoved into a photo-montage maker as a music video. Put some effort and thought into what you do and it might get featured here.

NiGHTS, King Of Lullabye.
Fantastic AMV by Kori, if I could make videos I would make them like this. A perfect atmospheric video that tells a story. Be sure to check this gem out!
Size-48.6Mb Time- 4:59(.MPG)
[ DiRECT DOWNLOAD ]

The Dream will not die.
A nice AMV by DREAMiNF. With horribly catchy japanese music that flows well with the visuals.
Size-33Mb Time- 5:23(.wmv)
[ DiRECT DOWNLOAD ]

Infinite Dreams.
A long AMV from SiLK which makes good use of the fmv along to awesome music by IronMaiden.
Size-59Mb Time- 6:09(.wmv)
[ DiRECT DOWNLOAD ]

NiGHTS music video.
‘My NiGHTS into dreams music video. This is the first music video I have ever done, and it took a very long time to do. Please comment back on it.’ Great work from Yamilover13. Music by The Techno Dome. Footage from NiGHTS & Sonic Riders.
Size-7.70Mb Time- 2:25(.wmv)
[ DiRECT DOWNLOAD ]

It's that day kids! The day were FANS FLIP OUT AND GO CRAZY.
It's Journey of Dreams release day in the USA and people in our forums are running in frantic circles trying to grab late copies. Sisters Shae and Kbooki went on an EPiC ADVENTURE and decided to share this hilarious documentary with the community. Yes. This is the true mentality of the NiGHTS fanbase in condensed form. This is what waiting 11 years does to us all. Some of us even drive cars. Beware. (Don't worry I'm sure all those years of playing the original game will come in handy when not paying attention to the road in front of you girls )

This documentary is in TWO PARTS dun dun dun. Check out video 2 for the dramatic conclusion.

The .Com’s collection of box scans of games that NiGHTS has appeared on the cover. Although he has had cameo appearances in a large amount of games this section is for his major starring roles. Enjoy viewing packaging from all over the world~